At Home A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

I really like Bill Bryson and am always glad to see a new book hit the shelves. Despite providing a huge amount of facts and tidbits about his subjects, I don't get bogged down or bored. At Home is more of the same. The book is full of facts about the history of homes and it is his 150 year home in Norfolk England that he uses as his base as he wanders from the attic to the cellar spouting off trivia about fork tines, dining tables, food in the middle ages, diseases, servants, stairs, bed bugs, archeologists, bathing....the list goes on and on. Somehow he does it with such wit and ease that you don't realise the amount of information you are taking in. I liked this book and enjoyed reading it though I have to admit it was not one of my favorites. My favorites are In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods simply because I get more of Bryson himself...he is a character in these books and not merely the narrator. But even a mediocre Bryson book is really enjoyable and this was a fun read. 2010 512 pages

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

I read this book for book club and though I was intriqued by the description, the actual reading experience did not follow through. The book opens with a four year old little girl found alone except a small white suitcase and a book of fairy tales on a dock in Maryborough Australia. No one comes looking for her so the dockmaster and his wife take her in and raise her as their own. The book weaves the stories of Nell, her granddaughter Cassandra, and Eliza, the authoress as it attempts to solve the mystery of the abandoned child. Unfortunately it quickly becomes confusing, melodramatic, and annoying. The characters are not very likable, their voices all sound alike, and I had trouble understanding their motives. It bounces from one character to the next and one time period to the next and one country to the next in a way that left me thumbing backwards to try and figure out where I was. She attempts to do too much with this book; its a little bit mystery, romance, gothic, historical fiction, and fairy tale. And it leaves the author attempting to tie too much up at the end in a contrived and unbelievable way. If you want to read a book that successfully presents and solves a historical mystery, I think A S Byatt's Possession is a truly satisfying read. I really wanted to like The Forgotten Garden but I just couldn't do it. By the way, this was received well by the book club and pretty much everyone liked it except me (sigh) 560 pages 2009

Too Close to the Falls

This memoir by Catherine Gildiner is the story of her childhood in the small town of Lewiston, New York during the 1950's. It is a endearing book that moves deftly between humor and poignancy and paints a sometimes charming, sometimes disturbing picture of 1950's America. Four year old Cathy is diagnosed by her pediatrician with too much energy and he recommends that she be put to work in her father's pharmacy. The characters that she meets in her job delivering prescriptions with her black co worker and best friend Roy are memorable and often dangerous. But she brings these eccentric characters to life and I enjoyed getting to know the majority of them. ( I especially enjoyed her mother; despite being a 1950's housewife, she only used the oven to warm mittens) It reminds me in tone of A Girl Named Zippy (Haven Kimmel) and The Liar's Club (Mary Karr) especially in the way she views her world, not allowing an adult perspective to interfere with her memories. It felt very real. 2001 354 pages